Red Cross humanitarian reporting contest: winners highlight the impact of conflict on children

Winners of the ICRC 2013 Humanitarian Reporting Award during the awarding ceremony at Bayleaf Hotel, Manila.

Red Cross humanitarian reporting contest: winners highlight the impact of conflict on children Today, in an awarding ceremony held at The Bayleaf in Intramuros Manila, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Philippine Red Cross (PRC) announced the winners of the Red Cross Award for Humanitarian Reporting 2013.

Twenty-five finalists competed in this Philippine media competition that aims to promote responsible reporting on conflict situations by highlighting the plight of people affected by it.

“The winning stories and images illustrated the heavy toll conflicts take on civilians—with some looking through the eyes of children, who are more vulnerable. All the finalists proved that reporting on conflict does not need not be sensationalized or focused only on the conflict as such or on peace negotiations,” said Pascal Mauchle, ICRC head of delegation to the Philippines. “The images and stories of everyday people whose lives have been disrupted often say so much more. These stories are about respect for human life and the dignity of people not taking part in the conflict, such as civilians, the wounded and sick.”

Mauchle handed the trophies and prizes to the winners along with Gwendolyn Pang, PRC secretary general and representatives from partner organizations International News Safety Institute (INSI), The Peace and Conflict Journalism Network (Pecojon), Photojournalists’ Center of the Philippines (PCP), and Rotary Club of Manila (RCM).

A total of 19 judges from the partner organizations judged the entries based on: evidence of research (30 percent); sourcing (20 percent); coherence/ organization (20 percent); style and presentation (15 percent); and conflict-sensitive reporting (15 percent).

In the Red Cross Award for Humanitarian Reporting 2013, three entries underlining the plight of children affected by armed conflict led the list of winners.

“Batang Halau,” a one-hour documentary on the plight of undocumented Filipinos living in Sabah, produced by Eleazar del Rosario for GMA News and Public Affairs’ Reel Time won the first place in the nationwide media competition’s video category. The documentary, tells the story of “stateless” children who were born in Sabah to Filipino parents. Halau means “forced to leave” or “expelled” in Malay.

“Strides into the future” by Stella Estremera, editor in chief of Sunstar Davao, told the story of Norjaida, who at 3 months old, lost her leg in an ambush in Northern Mindanao. Today Norjaida regained her long awaited independence and dignity after receiving a prosthetic limb and going through physical rehabilitation in the Davao Jubilee Foundation, a physical rehabilitation center supported by the ICRC.

“Child in red blanket” by Inquirer correspondent Jeoffrey Maitem took the top spot in the photography category with his images of a father carrying his child wrapped in a red blanket as they and other families were fleeing hostilities between government troops and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Central Mindanao last year.

The top winners for the other categories also hailed from Mindanao. For online, “The Tampakan project: “Battle over Southeast Asia’s largest copper-gold reserve” by Bong Sarmiento of Mindanews; and for radio, “Tudok Firiz: Meketefu” by Malu Manar of DXND-North Cotabato.

The second place for photography went to: Ruby Thursday More of Mindanews for her work titled “Bakwit” and third in the same category came “Clash on Good Friday” by Erwin Mascariñas of Mindanews.

For print: “Women take lead in bringing peace” by Julie Alipala of Inquirer (second place) and “‘Bangsamoro’ stirs feelings of Christians, Muslims” by Celerina del Mundo of Daily Manila Shimbun (third place);

Aside from the awards ceremony, a forum was held on conflict reporting in the Philippines. Guest speaker Jesus Dureza, chairman and president of the Philippine Press Institute and former Press Secretary and presidential adviser for Mindanao, talked about the “Pains and gains of conflict reporting,” while Rommel Banlaoi, chairman and executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, discussed “Media reporting on the maritime territorial disputes: national and regional security implications.” .